Investors Buy High Volume of Upstart Put Options (NASDAQ:UPST)

Upstart Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:UPST) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders bought 93,583 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 185% compared to the typical volume of 32,826 put options.

Insider Activity at Upstart

In other news, Director Kerry Whorton Cooper sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $75,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 23,934 shares in the company, valued at $1,196,700. This represents a 5.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Sanjay Datta sold 7,982 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.86, for a total value of $238,342.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 276,688 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,261,903.68. This trade represents a 2.80% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 10,981 shares of company stock worth $357,201. Corporate insiders own 16.67% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Upstart

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of UPST. EMC Capital Management boosted its holdings in Upstart by 12.2% during the fourth quarter. EMC Capital Management now owns 11,050 shares of the company’s stock valued at $483,000 after acquiring an additional 1,200 shares during the period. Rare Wolf Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Upstart in the fourth quarter worth about $616,000. Alpine Woods Capital Investors LLC bought a new position in shares of Upstart in the fourth quarter worth about $752,000. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its position in shares of Upstart by 41.3% during the 4th quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 45,167 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,975,000 after purchasing an additional 13,205 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Upstart during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $380,000. 63.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Key Upstart News

Here are the key news stories impacting Upstart this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Upstart announced it has applied to form an FDIC‑insured national bank (Upstart Bank) and to become a bank holding company — a transformational move that could give the company access to low‑cost deposits, materially lower funding costs and boost margins if approved. Upstart to Apply for National Bank Charter
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and commentary argue the charter could be a major earnings catalyst — potentially meaningfully higher adjusted EBITDA and multiple expansion if Upstart secures regulatory approval and captures deposit funding benefits. Upstart’s SoFi Moment Is Here: Assessing The Impact Of A Bank Charter
• Positive Sentiment: Broker support remains: Needham reaffirmed a Buy and set a $40 price target, signaling analyst conviction that the charter and other strategic moves justify upside from current levels. Benzinga
• Neutral Sentiment: Upstart continues to execute funding strategies outside deposits — KBRA assigned preliminary ratings to the $292.21M UPST 2026-1 securitization, showing the company’s active use of ABS markets to fund originations. KBRA Assigns Preliminary Ratings to Upstart Securitization Trust 2026-1
• Negative Sentiment: Pomerantz LLP launched an investor investigation related to Upstart, which can introduce legal risk and create headline volatility while active. INVESTOR ALERT: Pomerantz Law Firm Investigates Claims On Behalf of Investors of Upstart Holdings, Inc. – UPST
• Negative Sentiment: Unusual options activity: a large block of put buying (about 93,583 puts) suggests some traders are positioning for further downside or event risk in the near term.
• Negative Sentiment: Short-term market reaction: coverage noted UPST dipped more than the broader market today, reflecting mixed sentiment around the charter announcement and near-term execution/approval risk. Upstart Holdings, Inc. (UPST) Sees a More Significant Dip Than Broader Market: Some Facts to Know

Upstart Stock Down 2.5%

Shares of UPST opened at $27.47 on Thursday. Upstart has a 12 month low of $25.60 and a 12 month high of $87.30. The company’s fifty day moving average is $38.03 and its 200-day moving average is $46.86. The firm has a market cap of $2.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 65.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 2.44.

Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 10th. The company reported $0.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $296.09 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $288.54 million. Upstart had a net margin of 5.13% and a return on equity of 6.30%. Upstart’s revenue for the quarter was up 35.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.26 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Upstart will post -0.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Upstart declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, February 19th that authorizes the company to buyback $100.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 3.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Upstart from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $44.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Citizens Jmp reiterated a “market underperform” rating and issued a $20.00 target price on shares of Upstart in a report on Friday, February 13th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Upstart in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price target on shares of Upstart in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their price objective on shares of Upstart from $59.00 to $49.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $48.17.

Upstart Company Profile

Upstart Holdings, Inc operates a cloud-based lending marketplace that leverages artificial intelligence and machine learning to assess borrower creditworthiness. The company partners with banks and credit unions, providing its proprietary AI models and underwriting platform to facilitate consumer credit products. By focusing on non‐traditional data points—such as education, employment history and other real‐time indicators—Upstart seeks to improve approval rates and lower loss rates compared with conventional credit scoring methods.

Upstart’s core offering centers on unsecured personal loans, which borrowers can use for purposes such as debt consolidation, home improvements or major purchases.